Mkpoikana Udoma
Port Harcourt — Claims by the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Association of Nigeria, PETROAN, that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPC Ltd, has operated the Port Harcourt Refinery non-stop for 180 days are false and misleading, an investigation by SweetCrude Reports has confirmed.
The Claim:
On Tuesday, March 25th 2025, the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Association of Nigeria, PETROAN, issued a press statement commending the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, for successfully running the Port Harcourt Refinery for 180 days non-stop.
PETROAN in a statement issued by its National Public Relations Officer, Dr Joseph Obele, claimed that the refinery was commissioned in October 2024 and has been running continuously for 180 days, up to March 2025; describing it as “a remarkable feat that underscores the effectiveness of the rehabilitation project, after 20 years of dormancy.”
The group also claimed that its members were currently loading Automotive Gas Oil (diesel) and Dual Purpose Kerosene (DPK) from the refinery, while NNPC Ltd’s retail outlets were loading Premium Motor Spirit (PMS or petrol).
Several newspapers, including Punch, Vanguard, Daily Post, and The Cable, published the claim. Given its widespread circulation and the need for accurate reporting in Nigeria’s energy sector, SweetCrude Reports launched an investigation to fact-check it.
Verification
A Fact-Check by SweetCrude Reports revealed that the Port Harcourt refinery has not ran non-stop for 180days, contrary to claims made by PETROAN.
The Port Harcourt refinery located in Eleme, Rivers State, comprising two plants built in 1965 and 1989, has a combined installed capacity of 210,000 barrels per day – 60,000 bpd from the older facility and 150,000 bpd from the newer one.
The federal government announced a three-phase rehabilitation of the refinery in April 2021, scheduled for completion in 18, 24, and 44 months, with funding from NNPC Ltd’s Internally Generated Revenue, budgetary allocations, and Afreximbank, awarded to Italy’s Maire Tecnimont SpA for $1.5billion. The timelines were missed several times.
However, deadlines were missed repeatedly, as the federal government and its appointees including the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil) Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, kept shifting its resumption date for seven consecutives between 2022 and 2024.
After seven missed deadlines, the Port Harcourt refinery achieved its first flare in December 2023, after which a section of the refinery caught fire and was shut down for further repairs.
On Tuesday, November 26th, 2024 the federal government through NNPC Ltd officially commissioned the refinery and announced the resumption of operations and loading of productions at the Port Harcourt refinery, which was widely reported in the media.
In December 2025, investigations by SweetCrude Reports showed that loading of products at the refinery had been skeletal, as the 60,000bpd plant was only operating at 10percent of its capacity, as reported on 13th December 2024 headline, ‘Port Harcourt refinery not working.’ and corroborated with a report from Punch newspaper on 19th December 2024 with the headline, ‘Again, P’Harcourt refinery shuts down after $1.5bn rehabilitation.’
Since the resumption of operations at the refinery in November 2024, the plants which hitherto has the capacity to load out over 200 trucks per day, has not loaded more than 30 trucks per day, and it produces more of AGO and DPK than PMS.
Between November 26, 2024, and March 25, 2025, when PETROAN issued its statement, only 119 days had passed—not 180 days.
This means PETROAN’s claim is off by 61 days—more than two months of non-existent operations.
Furthermore, production at the refinery has not been continuous due to crude oil supply challenges; on March 19th 2025 when the refinery emitted intense flares causing panic among workers and residents of Okrika and Eleme, inside sources confirmed to our correspondent that the plant had been idle for three days before arrival of crude from Bonny.
The inability of refinery operators to properly separate water from crude oil before processing led to excessive crude loading, causing the intense flares witnessed on March 19. SweetCrude Reports covered the incident under the headline: “Intense flares at Port Harcourt refinery sparks panic, NNPC Ltd dismisses explosion.”
Further checks revealed that PETROAN is currently lobbying the federal government for a N100billion bailout to keep afloat the filling stations of its members, as reported by SweetCrude Reports with the headline “PETRAON seeks N100bn bailout as fuel subsidy removal threatens 1m jobs” on October 23rd 2024.
In January 2025, PETROAN also issued a statement praising NNPC Ltd’s Group CEO, Mele Kyari on his 60th birthday, urging President Bola Tinubu to extend his tenure, calling him the “best boss NNPC has ever had.”
These actions suggest PETROAN may be overstating refinery performance to align with NNPC Ltd’s interests, possibly in a bid to secure government support for its bailout request.
Verdict
The claim by PETROAN that NNPC Ltd has run the Port Harcourt Refinery non-stop for 180 days is false.
The refinery only began operations on November 26, 2024, making the total days of operation 119, not 180. The refinery has not been producing continuously due to crude supply issues and operational disruptions.
